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The Harlem Renaissance was a period of newfound and hard-won artistic and social freedom for African Americans. “If white people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t matter,” wrote Langston Hughes in 1926. “If colored people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, their displeasure doesn’t matter either. We build our temples for tomorrow, strong as we know how, and stand on top of the mountain, free within ourselves.” Hughes believed that Black writers should embrace their identities, rather than “surrender racial pride in the name of a false integration,” and proclaim themselves simply “writers.” They can achieve their American dream if they believe in themselves and have enough effort.

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Poetry Challenge: Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World

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Poetry Challenge: Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World

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Kwame Alexander and Rachel Martin were talking about racism and police brutality in 2021 with all kinds of new optimism and discussed how this related to MLK’s and Langston’s poem. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the quote "In spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream." and in "I Have a Dream" speech, he changed the course of our history. And what most of us don't realize is that his speech had its origins in a poem filled with aspiration and inspiration. They’ve linked to a poem called “I Dream A World” by Langston Hughes, it says “Where wretchedness will hang its head and joy, like a pearl, attends the needs of all mankind - of such I dream, my world.” Through Alexander and Martin show that the American dream might come true if you have your goal and enough effort even if you are in difficulties and frustrations. In this between Langston Hughes poem and Dr. King's speech, they talk about dreams and equality and freedom.

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RACHEL MARTIN: We've lost so many lives to the coronavirus and police brutality. And just as we ushered in 2021 with all kinds of new optimism, there was a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, the very temple of our country's democracy, and launched a violent, deadly attack against the U.S. government.

KWAME ALEXANDER: And let's be clear, these were not protesters. Our incoming president stated they were a riotous mob, insurrectionists. So how do we now make glorious this winter of our discontent? Where do we go from here, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, chaos or community?

MARTIN: I, for one, choose community. I'm joined by Kwame Alexander. He's our MORNING EDITION poet in residence, of course. Kwame, the question now for so many of us is how we do this, how we come together when so much of the foundation that holds us together has been chipped away.

ALEXANDER: Well, we can't just hope it's going to get better. It's going to take us dreaming a new world.

MARTIN: Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose birthday we celebrate. He wrote, quote, "In spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream."

ALEXANDER: Fifty-eight years ago, when he took to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and delivered that "I Have a Dream" speech, he changed the course of our history. And what most of us don't realize is that his speech, it had its origins in a poem filled with aspiration and inspiration. The metaphors, the political overtones, the themes - they're linked to a poem called "I Dream A World" by Langston Hughes. Read it with me, Rachel.

MARTIN: Yeah, I'd love to.

(SOUNDBITE OF POEM, "I DREAM A WORLD")

MARTIN: (Reading) I dream a world where man, no other man will scorn, where love will bless the earth, and peace its paths adorn.

ALEXANDER: (Reading) I dream a world where all will know sweet freedom's way, where greed no longer saps the soul nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where Black or white, whatever race you be, will share the bounties of the earth and every man is free.

MARTIN: (Reading) Where wretchedness will hang its head and joy, like a pearl, attends the needs of all mankind - of such I dream, my world.

ALEXANDER: What's interesting is it was Langston's favorite poem. He used to end his readings with that piece.

MARTIN: Yeah, I can see why. I mean, it's hope in the chaos. And it attends to the needs of all of us like a good poem does. And there are so many parallels - right? - between this Langston Hughes poem and Dr. King's speech - talk of dreams and equality and freedom. So - you know, maybe that's how we start the work of dreaming this new world, Kwame. We imagine it, we say it, we claim it, we write it, and then we live it.

ALEXANDER: So it is written, so it shall be.

MARTIN: So listeners, let's write our way out of this moment, to the degree that we're able, into a space of possibility. We'd like you to write a poem that begins with I dream a world, a poem about what we hope for in 2021.

ALEXANDER: And what we will work for. Your poem can rhyme like Langston's, or it doesn't have to, like Dr. King's speech. It just has to dream us out of this tribulation.

MARTIN: Submit your poem to us at npr.org/idreamaworld. And then, like he does, Kwame's going to take lines from some of your pieces and create a tapestry, create a community crowdsourced poem.

ALEXANDER: We're in a tunnel of hope, but there is light at the end of it. Let's get to it, folks.

MARTIN: Let's do it. Kwame Alexander - he's a regular contributor to MORNING EDITION and the author of "Light For The World To See: A Thousand Words On Race And Hope."

ALEXANDER: Dream on, Rachel.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHUCK LEAVELL'S "HIGHER GROUND")

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Poetry Challenge: Honor MLK By Describing How You Dream A World

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To listen to this broadcast, click here: RACHEL MARTIN: We've lost so many lives to the coronavirus and police brutality. And just as we ushered in 2021 with all kinds of new optimism, there was a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, the very temple of our country's democracy, and launched a violent, deadly attack against the U.S.

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Although Langston Hughes worked as a poet, he also tried to emphasize the idea of equality among all human beings. He wrote poems about inspiring a lot of black people to believe that the American dream is possible.

His work supports the idea of the American Dream by identifying African American's perseverance, resiliency,  strength, and determination.  In addition, his work instilled hope for a race that was dealing with an oppressive American society.

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Writer Langston Hughes became one of the younger literary veterans of the Harlem Renaissance, with a career that began at the height of that African-American cultural movement in the 1920s and continued into the 1960s. Hughes's work was often inspired by the pride, humor, and music of blacks in the lower classes. He used jazz, the blues, and gospel music to inspire themes, language, and the structure of much of his published work, which critics alternately praised and derided.  his literary career blossomed, bringing fame, money, and widespread recognition. Hughes had become the elder model for many aspiring black writers, who were inspired by his use of ordinary black people's lives and culture and his willingness to reach out on his own as a black artist in a white-dominated society. He showed that you can accomplish your goal not even because of skin color. But it doesn’t mean everyone can achieve it if you don’t have enough effort or really put the determination into it.